Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid

IRAQ: HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION BLAMES PRESIDENT RASHID FOR MASS EXECUTIONS, CITING ‘HORRIFIC’ PRACTICES

October 14, 2024:

The human rights organization "AFAD" on October 12, 2024 issued a statement, condemning mass executions by Iraqi authorities, including elderly inmates and some carried out in "horrific" ways, holding President Abdul Latif Rashid responsible.
In a report, AFAD, which monitors the humanitarian and human rights situation in Iraq, revealed that the country carried out one of its largest mass executions since 2003, with at least 50 prisoners hanged at Nasiriyah Central Prison in September.
AFAD's investigation found that the prison conducted four mass executions that month, the largest on the 24th, when 21 inmates were taken from their cells at dawn and hanged in groups of six, sometimes amid sectarian insults.
The report also highlighted that “President Rashid signed the execution orders under political pressure from sectarian and armed factions in Baghdad, despite evidence of prisoners being tortured and coerced into confessions.”
Most of the executed were from Saladin, Diyala, Al-Anbar, Baghdad, Nineveh, and Babil governorates, with some of the sentences dating back to Nouri al-Maliki’s government, known for its “retaliatory and sectarian approach.”
AFAD noted that one of those executed was 68 years old and had endured various forms of torture.
Prison staff reportedly use psychological torture, sometimes taking inmates for mock executions, leading to fainting and hunger strikes, an inhumane practice not seen anywhere else in the world.
The human rights organization held President Rashid accountable for what it called “a massacre,” which claimed the lives of at least 50 prisoners, ignoring calls to investigate torture-based confessions.
Rashid's presidency has been marked by dozens of executions, despite international and local human rights organizations' warnings about innocent individuals.
In this context, AFAD urged international organizations to oppose Iraq’s secret executions, accusing authorities of “exploiting regional and global events to carry out death sentences that have not reached final approval or been backed by credible evidence.”